Someday Never Came
by AirGirl Phantom
Summary: Kataang one-shot. Character Death. One day, a hope is born... But as the sun sets on a bloody day, the light is not the only thing that is dying.


**A/N:** This is my interpretation of challenge number 5, "someday," from the Kataang 100 community on LJ. I may or may not post more, depending on how inspired I am.

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"Someday I'll do it…"

Katara stopped walking. That was definitely Aang's voice. She quietly crept through the sparse foliage until she could see him, sitting cross-legged on the ground, his small form but a silhouette. Behind him was the sunset, a sight so picturesque that it thoroughly belied the war that was engulfing their world. But Katara switched her eyes back to Aang as he began to move.

He was slouched over, facing sideways, his staff lying beside him, and his finger tracing aimlessly through the dirt. Katara knew that spying was wrong, and that she should just walk out of hiding now to fetch him for dinner, as was her intent.

But something kept her rooted to the spot. She listened fixedly as Aang heaved a sigh and said, "One day, I'll tell her how I feel…" Katara covered her mouth with a hand as she inadvertently gasped. Luckily, Aang seemed to be distracted with his musings and his finger dancing across the ground. He continued, his words nearly inaudible: "I love you."

Katara began to back up, retracing her steps. She had definitely had enough spying for one day.

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As Aang completed his little sketch in the dirt, he suddenly heard someone coming through the trees, with an undue amount of crashing and stomping. He swiped his hand hastily across his drawing site just as Katara all but stumbled into the clearing. He stared for a moment – the light of dusk bathed her dark skin with a rosy glow, and the breeze was gently blowing loose strands of hair across her face…

"There you are, Aang," she said, bringing him back to Earth. She walked towards him with a smile and stuck out her hand. "Come on, dinner's almost ready."

"Okay." He took her warm hand in his, and as he stood up, he thought he saw her gaze flicker to the ground where he had been drawing. Confident that it was completely erased, he walked alongside Katara to camp without a single glance back, already wondering what the others had prepared to eat.

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Months later, Katara once again found herself looking for Aang in the waning light of the sunset. This time, though, she was frantic, her brain intoxicated with the scent of burning flesh, and the air itself seemed saturated with blood.

"Aang! AANG!" she screamed as she ran over the clay tiles of the Fire Lord's palace. Sokka ran beside her, worried not only for Toph and Aang (who were missing from the ranks of their victorious army), but also for Katara, who never ceased screaming the Avatar's name.

They took a sharp corner, and spotted Toph sitting cross-legged on the ground outside a large pair of ornate doors, her face in her hands, trembling. Rushing up to the bruised and battered Earthbender, Sokka exclaimed, "Toph! You're alright!" Concern clouded the immense relief in his voice.

She didn't seem to hear him, nor did she acknowledge his and Katara's presence. Katara knelt on the floor beside her, almost gasping for breath, eyes widened in fear. She gently shook her shoulder. "Toph… what's wrong? Where – where's Aang?" Her voice slowly rose in pitch and volume as she continued talking, panic taking over.

Toph lifted her face from her hands to reveal puffy eyes and a tear-streaked face. She spoke in a hoarse voice. "He…. He told me to tell you…. He wanted y-you to know that he – he loves you, Katara…." She took a shuddering breath. Katara's heart skipped a few beats. "And that he's s-sorry that he – " Toph choked, and a sob escaped. She seemed unable and unwilling to talk anymore, burying her face in her hands again.

Katara gasped, and her eyes burned as she shook her head. "No… no…."

Sokka also knelt beside Toph and put a hand on her shoulder, muttering in her ear, "Where is he, Toph?" He kept his composure, but only barely. Toph, not pausing in her lamentation, pointed to blood-red curtains. Katara didn't hold back as she sprinted through them, screaming Aang's name and sobbing between each shriek. Sokka stayed behind, wrapping Toph in his arms and murmuring comforting words, though several tears crept down his face as well.

Through the curtains was the throne room. Flames burned near the back wall, flickering with a dying light that illuminated a small figure lying on the ground several paces ahead. "AANG!" Katara screamed, so loudly that her voice gave out. Setting her eyes upon him, she saw nothing else in the entire room. As she ran towards him, she lost her footing and ended up falling to his side on her hands and knees.

His blank eyes stared up at her hauntingly, his mouth slightly agape. Her body wracked with sobs, Katara grabbed his cold hand with both of hers and held it to her heart. She remembered that other sunset, the day she saw her own name sketched in the dirt and knew… "I love you, too," she whispered.

This moment was bittersweet, not at all how she had pictured it. But as she sat by Aang's side weeping, Katara knew that, one day, they could be together. It was his turn to wait for someday to arrive… the someday that she could tell him, too.

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**A/N:** Thanks for reading, please review!


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